Once Upon a Time
by mpenguin15
Summary: It was meant as a joke, an act of rebellion really. Never would she ever think that the consequence would be love. Or the pain that comes after heartbreak. But does it really have to end that way? P&P Cinderella version, with parings of Elizabeth/Darcy (of course) and Jane/Bingley
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

A slice of sunlight peaked its way from over the eastern horizon, covering the tiny little town of Meryton with a bright warm glow. The little shops and cottages were losing their dark dull sleepy look and their whitewashed walls with their light brown beams and window shutters had a new cheerful shine. Coming closer to the outskirts of this tiny town, the farms were just beginning to awake and if someone happened to be listening, they would be able to hear little soft baying coming from lambs that were, one by one, waking up by the dawn's light.

Elizabeth Bennet's eyes fluttered open as the sun's rays tiptoed on her face and, upon hearing the familiar sounds of the farms in the morning and the birds singing their usual morning serenade, a little smile appeared on Elizabeth's face.

_Oh, how I love morning_. She thought to herself, quietly slipping out of bed to not disrupt her sister Jane, whom was still deep in slumber. With a few quick strides, Elizabeth was at the window, gazing out with a content smile at the world around her.

Because it was early in summer, many traces of spring were still present such as the tulips in the garden, but the trees had regain their full leaves once more and the sunlight danced off them creating a pleasant glowing effect. Elizabeth smiled fondly at the sight, until suddenly a robin swooped past the window where she was standing. Elizabeth followed the bird with her eyes and watched it make its progress through the air, diving and gliding upwards in the familiar bird-like fashion. Until, suddenly, the bird flew past a carriage, which arrested Elizabeth's attention.

Like most carriages, this one had a black color but Elizabeth knew it could not have been the coach for the driver was far too well dressed. To further provoked Elizabeth's notions was the state of the two lovely creatures pulling the vehicle. Though she were no expert on horses, Elizabeth was certain that they cost far more than any man dare pay for a coach horse, or at least, the two curtain horses were much better attended to that of a common horse.

Attempting to gain a closer look at the carriage as it continued rolling its way along the road as quietly as it could in the early morning, Elizabeth's eyes finally were able to make out the only thing that could prove her presumption. There, at the door, stood out an unfamiliar crest that could only belong to an extremely wealthy family. Thus, the carriage was a private carriage, not the coach.

Happy that she ended up being correct, Elizabeth's eyes then wandered away from the vehicle and towards what must be it's destination; Netherfield Castle. Netherfield Castle had always looked magnificent in the early morning. Elizabeth would not say it was magical, which her sister Jane was more prone to say, but it was an impressive structure.

It stood much higher then everything else in the little town and was made of what appeared to be grayish blue stones. Elizabeth heard that there was even a tiny village within the castle's walls, but she had never seen it and so she stubbornly refuse to believe it. The thing that Elizabeth found to be the most remarkable about the castle, however, was the clock tower. It was a magnificent tower, the clock seeming to be craved out of crystal. The tower also happen to be the tallest structure in the village, rising far above the heads of the villagers so that it could seen from miles away. But what Elizabeth found to be the loveliest characteristic of the clock tower was that whenever the clock struck at twelve, a beautiful chime would sound. A sweet, strong, yet delicate chime.

"Lizzie? Whatever are you doing?" Jane's voice rung, not unlike the chime from the clock tower.

"Just looking at the scenery." Elizabeth answered with a small smile at her sister, and then returned to looking outside.

Upon hearing movement, Elizabeth was not surprised in finding Jane joining her at the windowsill a short minute later.

The sisters stood there in peaceful silence for a while, until Jane broke it upon saying, "It is beautiful this morning, isn't it?"

"Hmh." Elizabeth answered completely lost in the scene before her.

"Netherfield Castle is looking especially wonderful today, don't you think Lizzie?"

That caused a small smile to tug on Elizabeth's lips and she had decided to agree with her.

"What is that over there?" Jane suddenly asked her eyes attached to the very same carriage that Elizabeth had looked at earlier.

"It is a carriage that, I believe, is carrying a visitor to the royal family of Netherfield."

"Who do you think is in there, Lizzie?"

"Probably a young lady. Isn't the prince unattached?"

"I do believe so. But I am not certain."

"Oh, Lucinda and Clarinda will be furious!" Elizabeth said with a playful smile, "finally, their hopes of winning the prince's heart will be dashed away from them!"

"Lizzie, it isn't nice to tease." Jane said with a struck look on her face as she then quickly added, "Nor would it be kind to tell them. Please do wait until we are certain that our cousins will not be able to marry the prince.

"But Jane!" Elizabeth exclaimed seriously, "Why would I dash away this opportunity to teach them a lesson? And it would be very cruel of you to take this valuable lesson away from them!"

Jane gave Elizabeth a stern look that prompted her to laugh and finally say, "Very well Jane, for you, I will do anything."

More moments of peaceful silence washed over the room, like warm water for a bath. Elizabeth and Jane both basked in the moment, enjoying it for all it was worth; but these moments have the nasty habit of only lasting for a very short time and so, before either of them had had enough to be content, a sudden pounding came from the door and a harsh voice said;

"Jane! Elizabeth! Get out of bed! Work needs ter be done!"

Both sisters listen as the heavy footsteps stomped away and they both in unison gave a sigh, though Jane's was more of disappointment and Elizabeth's more out of frustration.

"Come Lizzie, time for a new day." Jane said softly as she left the window with one last look at Netherfield's clock tower.

"Yes, another day." Elizabeth said with a murmur, taking in one more moment of the dawn before leaving to get dressed, the last of her glance involuntarily at the mysterious carriage.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"MISS BENNET!"

Jolting from surprise at the sudden unpleasant shout, Elizabeth turned herself around to find Mrs. Turner towering over her.

"What ter ya think you ar do'in?" Mrs, Turner fumed as she growled at the petite young woman.

"I had not been present at the moment for I had much more interesting matters to attend to." Elizabeth said shortly, giving the large buff woman a pointed stare.

"What ya talking about? Ya've been there ter whole time!" The elder woman boomed giving Elizabeth an awful look.

"My being may have been here, Mrs. Turner, but I'm afraid my mind has not been here at all. Therefore it is simply a matter of opinion whether I have been here or not. For a person, such as yourself, who sees a person's actual being as the deciding factor of whether a person is present, then for you, yes I have been here.

However, in my opinion, I have not actually been here for I had let my mind slip into a world entirely of my own and extremely different from the reality in which I, at the very least, live in."

Mrs, Turner stood there stunned, her mind attempting to comprehend the sentences that Elizabeth had just sprouted from her mouth. Elizabeth looked at the manlike woman with amusement as Mrs. Turner's brow deepen the more she thought and her eyes became angrier the less she understood.

Finally, the elder woman snapped, "Agh! Away with all ya fancy talkin! Just do ya job Miss Bennet, or I swear I'll tell ter mistress!"

With that, the buff woman stormed away, leaving Elizabeth smirking in her wake.

"Lizzie, you should not be so cruel to poor Mrs. Turner." Jane's soft musical voice sudden came from beside her, "You know that she was never educated as well as you and I."

"Oh I could care less about her background, my dear sister." Elizabeth grinned playfully as she looked up at her sister, "It is just, I would be much kinder to her if she were not so cruel to us! She is a bit like an annoying lapdog to our Aunt."

"She is not oh so very cruel to us Lizzie." Jane said, beginning to polish the silver once again, as Elizabeth began slowly sweeping the floor, "Though I do wish she would stop calling our Aunt our mistress…."

"In a very twisted away, I suppose she is." Elizabeth growled.

"How so?"

"Come on Jane! You are not this naive!" Elizabeth laughed teasingly, "You are well aware that we are force to work like servants for her!"

"We were taken into our Aunt's home in her kindness, Lizzie. I suppose it is only fit that we are able to repay it in some way."

"We were taken into our Aunt's home to be her wards, for her to teach us to be proper young ladies. Is this what young ladies do? Scrub the floors and do the dishes?" Elizabeth scoffed.

Jane frowned at Elizabeth's point and said firmly, "Well, at least we can now become maids."

At that statement, the two sisters laughed loudly, Elizabeth so much that she had to hold onto her broom to support herself.

"E-LIZ-AAA-BETH!" Suddenly came a scream from one of the upper floors.

The call caused both sisters to become silent, gazing at each other with alarm.

"Have you done anything, Lizzie?" Jane asked quietly.

"I do not believe so…" Elizabeth answered uncertainly and jumped when they screamed her name once again.

Putting the broom away quickly, Elizabeth rushed out of the kitchen, the eyes of her sister trailing her worryingly. Bounding up the stairs, Elizabeth hurried to the sound of her name and found herself in the parlor with her Aunt and both of her cousins.

The parlor, though located in the sunniest section of the house, had always been a cold place for Elizabeth. The walls were a light ice blue color with a dark blue rug decorated with black flowers that took up most of the floor. There was a shining Blackwood pianoforte to the right of the room and at the left stood dark blue sofas surrounding a dark Blackwood table.

It was there that Elizabeth and Jane's Aunt and cousins sat. Her Aunt Matilda sat there drinking her tea and had the look of her that seemed like a bird about to attack its prey while Elizabeth's two cousins, Lucinda and Clarinda, grinned like two Cheshire cats, their eyes flashed happily.

Upon seeing this sight, Elizabeth knew she was in for an enormous amount of trouble.

"You called for me Aunt?" Elizabeth said as kindly as she could possibly muster while within the presence of the three vultures.

Taking a long draining sip of her tea, her Aunt finally put the cup down and answered, "Why yes."

Elizabeth stood there, her patience running thin as her Aunt continued to drink her tea and her two cousins whispered and giggled to each other, sending Elizabeth nasty looks in turns.

"What is it that you wanted, Aunt?" Elizabeth asked once again, resisting the urge to shout.

"Did you scrub the bathroom yesterday?" Her Aunt suddenly demanded.

"What?" Elizabeth asked with surprise.

"I was informed by my daughters that their bathrooms had not been cleaned."

"No, of course they weren't. Th-"

"So you admit to not doing the task?"

"I-I-Yes, but of course I didn't do it because-"

"Well then, Elizabeth, a punishment must be in order."

Her temper had reached its snapping point, and Elizabeth could not control her voice as she suddenly shouted, "I didn't bloody do the bathrooms because it wasn't the damn time to clean them!".

With a loud gasp, Lucinda and Clarinda broke off once again into hurried whispers while Elizabeth's Aunt just sat there with the tea, giving her niece an awful look.

"Excuse me?" Aunt Matilda finally said in a deadly whisper that even caused her two irritating daughters to fall into silence.

"The bathrooms are cleaned on the second Tuesday of every month, since it's only the first Tuesday of June-"

"Am I not the mistress of this house?" Elizabeth's Aunt suddenly snapped

"Yes, but-"

"Do I not give the orders of this household?"

"Yes, however-"

"Then, when I say to clean the bathrooms on the first Tuesday instead of the second I expect it to be done!"

"But you never told me!" Elizabeth shouted before she could be cut once again.

Sharp silence took over the room as Elizabeth had once more caused sparks to flash in her Aunt's eyes. Suddenly, as if a voice had told her to do so, Elizabeth's Aunt grabbed the bell next to her right hand and shook it three short times.

Elizabeth's stomach went heavy with the weight of dread as, within seconds, the large manly form of Mrs. Turner appeared at her Aunt's side.

"What is it I can do fer ya, Mistress?" Mrs. Turner said as politely as her rough voice would allow it.

"Abigail, did I not tell Miss Elizabeth Bennet to clean the girl's bathrooms yesterday?"

Mrs. Turner face scrunched up with confusion on the question. When the woman finally had opened her mouth to give her answer, however, she froze when she saw the pointed look that her mistress was giving.

Her face rapidly shown with understanding and, looking down at Elizabeth, who looked at the woman with begging eyes, Mrs. Turner finally said, "Yes ya did, Mistress."

"Well, there you have it." Aunt Matilda said, twisting herself around to stare at Elizabeth once more. "You were told to do so, and since you failed to do so, as well as lie about it to my face, and _curse_ in my presence, I think a large punishment is in order. You must scrub all the hallways, by _yourself_, you must polish all the frames, by _yourself_, you must mead all the clothing as well as do all the laundry, by _yourself_, and no meals shall be given to you until tomorrow."

Feeling tears starting to well up to the surface, Elizabeth stubbornly held them back as she gave her aunt a curtsy. Elizabeth knew the look in her eyes must have shown pure loathing, but she did not care. She hated her aunt, and she wanted to show just how much she truly detested the woman.

As Elizabeth made her way out the door, she heard her aunt say one last thing, "Oh, and Abigail, make sure that Miss Elizabeth Bennet doesn't see nor even hear her sister at all for the next month."

At this, Elizabeth could not stop the tears that spilled down her face not matter how hard she tried.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

Elizabeth knew that it was a stupid decision. She knew that it would have been much wiser to resist the impulse because she was already in hot water as of the moment and Elizabeth was well aware that her Aunt could stack more punishments on her.

But before Elizabeth could entirely see the dreadful consequences of her actions, she had already found herself to be out the back door and in the woods.

"How dare she? That dreadful woman! Despicable woman! Horrid being!" Elizabeth hissed under her breath, her small hands clenched in tight fists and her legs taking surprisingly long strides for her size. She continued hissing profanities about her aunt the deeper she got into the woods until Elizabeth found herself at a little stream. She quickly found a large boulder to sit upon and sat down promptly, still fuming about the unfair situation she had been forced into. But anger, by nature, will eventual burn out and Elizabeth found that her anger had been burning on a short wick that left her with an immense amount of depression afterwards. So, finding herself suddenly left with the heavy weight that depression contains, Elizabeth found herself to suddenly began weeping as if her heart had been mortal wounded and she had subconsciously curled up into a tight ball.

Elizabeth knew she may have been over-exaggerating, but she could not shake off the horrid sense of dread that fell upon her. Jane was her only sense of happiness in that house, the only thing that kept her sane. Jane was so sweet and naive, what if she could not fend off their attacks without Elizabeth there to take the heavy hits? How would she protect her when Jane went shopping in the village if she could not go with? Elizabeth could only remember too well about the time when Jane had not made it home from shopping one evening. She was only thankful that Jane had only forgotten the directions to get back to the house and that no harm had come to her. But what if next time, that wouldn't be the case?

And what would happen to Elizabeth without Jane? That thought caused even more dread to come crash down upon her. Jane was Elizabeth's safety line as much as Elizabeth was Jane's, if not more. Elizabeth could hardly forget about the horrible drowning sensation she had gone through the last time she was prevented from being around Jane, and that had only been for two weeks. How bad would it become if Elizabeth could not speak with Jane for a whole month?

A sudden snap of a branch took Elizabeth out of her thoughts and she quickly whipped her head out from of her arms to see a man.

He looked just as embarrassed, if he were not more, that Elizabeth had noticed him as Elizabeth was at being found in this sort of a state. Both people had jumped in alarm at the sudden eye contact; Elizabeth had actually jumped so high that she than slid out of her seat and onto the slightly muddy floor. The man, though glowing red, did not hesitate a moment in helping Elizabeth up, and she, who would normally have refused the help, spent that time in trying to wipe away the traces of her crying. Now that the business of getting Elizabeth to her feet was done, the two parties stood awkwardly, staring at the other, though not meeting each other's eye, and both were sorely wishing they could be rude for just this moment and simply run away.

Though it was customary that the man should have spoken first, Elizabeth, with her embarrassment, had become furious and, forgetting the rule, asked the man rather sharply, "What on God's name are you doing in these woods?"

The man, stilling a blushing red, stammered, "I-I-I was not aware that these woods were a private ownership."

A pang of guilt hit Elizabeth for being rude and she was quick to fix it, "No, they are not. What I had meant by it, is, er, I do not normally come across any beings in these woods, or at least, not very often, and so you had caught me by surprise, especially at the state I was in." As she had said that, Elizabeth faltered and her embarrassed blush returned once more to her face.

The man, understanding her blush, and did in fact turn red himself, said quickly, "I suppose it was my wrong doing, I apologize; I should have made myself known."

"Oh, do not worry." Elizabeth said with a rather shaky laugh, "I would not have said anything either, for how do you make your presence known in front of a weeping girl? Nay, I would have most likely stood off in the bushes as well and ponder on why the girl was crying."

After Elizabeth's little speech, the two stood there in their uncomfortable silence once again, sorely wishing to be anywhere else and avoided meeting eye contact.

At last, the man said rather quickly, "I was not there for very much, or at least, I did not watch for very long." At that rather brash comment, the man grew as red as he had been in the beginning and began to stammer, "W-w-what I meant by that was, I did not watch, I mean, I did, but not, to say watch is a poor use of words, rather I did not _see_ you-"

The man, however, had stopped his monologue after that for, out of the blue, Elizabeth had suddenly began to giggle uncontrollable. He stood stunned as the girl, who he had just seen, not ten minutes ago, crying as if her heart had broke, suddenly could not stop laughing if she had tried. And trying she was for throughout her laughter she could only just insert little snippets of apologies for her rude behavior. The man, instead of finding it rude, found it rather enchanting and watched the young woman battle her laughs with a sort of amusement.

At long last, Elizabeth could control herself and, as she attempted to catch her breath, wheezed out one last apology, "I am sorry, I truly do not know what had come over me. It was just, that when you were speaking, it struck me how ridiculous the worry was about and I could not help but laugh! Which," Elizabeth quickly added, "I must thank you for, I was very much in need of a laugh. Oh how I do love a good laugh!"

"Oh! How rude!" Elizabeth suddenly exclaimed, causing the man once again to leap in alarm and a small giggle to come from Elizabeth as she explained, "I see we have forgotten to introduce ourselves. But it seems" She added, "that we do not seem to do things within the normal conducts of society, now do we?"

"No, it seems that we do not." The man said, happy to be on a track in which he could now follow, "My name is-"

At this, strangely, it seemed as if the man stopped. Hesitated, was more the word Elizabeth would use but, it may have just been simply her imagination for the man then smoothly replied:

"Darcy. My name is Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Darcy." Elizabeth said, sinking into her well-formed curtsy, "And my name is Miss Elizabeth Bennet."

"And it is a pleasure to make yours, Miss Bennet." Mr. Darcy said with a sincere smile, "And if you do not mind me asking, why is it that a young lady is off in the woods all by yourself? Surely it cannot be safe for someone such as yourself to be here, wandering about while bears or wolves are about."

"Oh, there is nothing to fear in these woods!" Elizabeth laughed joyfully, "These woods are my sanctuary! Nothing in them has harmed me yet, and I hope they never will!"

"But surely that does not justify you being here all alone?" Mr. Darcy asked, for he was puzzled at the girl's independence, something in a woman that he had never truly come across before.

"No, but-" Elizabeth froze as she suddenly remembered the event that had brought her there to begin with. She was certain that time had past to the point that they would begin to wonder where Elizabeth had gone, and she surely did not need any more punishments bestowed upon her for today.

That was what was fluttering in her mind, causing full blown panic to course it's way through her as she rapidly said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I must be going now."

Mr. Darcy, alarmed at her sudden change in countenance, exclaimed, "Wh-why? What is it? What is the matter?"

"Oh, I cannot tell you! I do not have the time!" Elizabeth cried and before another word could be uttered, she took off down the path which she had took to get there leaving the shock Darcy to shout after her:

"Wait!"

But the girl was far too gone and Darcy could only stare at her in wonder and as her figure had disappeared in the woods, he began to wonder whether she were truly real or simply something of his imagination. Was she human, or a wood nymph? Darcy quickly shook himself of those thoughts, thinking how unlike him it was to think of such foolish things such as those.

Sighing, he was about to go once more on the path that he had came when something caught his eye. Approaching it, Darcy's eyes widen with alarm and he quickly picked it up. It was a little silver locket with a little chain that had broken as it had caught itself on a branch.

Though it was foolish of him to do so, he quickly put the broken necklace in his pocket. Just to act as proof that the girl was more than a figment of his imagination.


End file.
